VICTORIA ANNIE CHAPMAN
Born in Victoria Garesfield in 1881, Victoria Annie Chapman was a school teacher and lived with her family in Railway Terrace.
Recorded in the 1881 census, Victoria's parents were in Victoria Garesfield as the colliery's early days, her father, Thomas Chapman a railway engine driver from Shotley, her mother Elizabeth from Heugh Hall. The family had been in the Consett/Blackhill area before arriving at Victoria Garesfield. Victoria had two brothers, Andrew Moir and Thomas William, both following in their father's footsteps to become engine drivers. Victoria's two sisters were Margaret Elizabeth, a dressmaker, and Mary Helen, also a school teacher.
During the First World War, Victoria served as a nurse with the Voluntary Aid Detachment in England and in Stationary hospital in Wimereux, near Boulogne, in France.
The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD), set up with the help of the British Red Cross, was a voluntary unit of civilians providing nursing care for military personnel in the United Kingdom and various other countries.
Recorded in the 1881 census, Victoria's parents were in Victoria Garesfield as the colliery's early days, her father, Thomas Chapman a railway engine driver from Shotley, her mother Elizabeth from Heugh Hall. The family had been in the Consett/Blackhill area before arriving at Victoria Garesfield. Victoria had two brothers, Andrew Moir and Thomas William, both following in their father's footsteps to become engine drivers. Victoria's two sisters were Margaret Elizabeth, a dressmaker, and Mary Helen, also a school teacher.
During the First World War, Victoria served as a nurse with the Voluntary Aid Detachment in England and in Stationary hospital in Wimereux, near Boulogne, in France.
The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD), set up with the help of the British Red Cross, was a voluntary unit of civilians providing nursing care for military personnel in the United Kingdom and various other countries.
No. 32 Stationary Hospital where Victoria worked for 22 months, had initially been a military hospital staffed by Australian expatriate doctors and nurses recruited in England between 1914 and 1916. It was absorbed into the British Army in June 1916.
Newspaper article and background information courtesy of Mick Hardy of the Ryton and District War Memorials Project dedicated to the memory of men and women from the villages of the former Ryton Urban District Council area who lost their lives while serving in the armed forces or were killed by enemy action during the conflicts of the twentieth century.